Forbidden Paradise
by Katz Go Boom
Summary: A/U: Sadiq thought it was hard enough to teach at Heracles' school. Then he met Heracles' roommate. Turkey/Japan
1. Sadiq Begins

It was a shock when Sadiq had finally gotten a teaching position. Not so much because it was unusual that a hot-tempered and abrasive man like him wanted to be a teacher, but because of where it was.

Sadiq was now teaching at the boarding school that Heracles attended. Sadiq had also taken Heracles in when he was young, after Heracles' mother passed away.

The reason for this choice, he was told, was because Heracles' mother had named him as the godfather. When, Sadiq wasn't sure. He was barely a child himself when he had gotten involved with the older woman, and not even old enough to drink in some countries when she grew sick and died. She had refused to see a doctor, and eventually died "of sickness".

But it would always baffle him why he was named Heracles' legal guardian, especially since they barely got along, at best.

It was no surprise when, thanks to the hefty sum Heracles' mother had left the two, he had shipped Heracles off to boarding school as soon as he could. After all, Sadiq was barely a child himself. How could he be expected to know anything about raising a 10-year-old?

However, it had caused a permanent rift in their already strained relationship.

It wasn't as though Sadiq didn't care about the child, nor did it mean he didn't try to keep in touch with Heracles or provide a home for the boy during the holidays, but Sadiq was still in the tempers of his youth and just as reckless. At first Heracles was okay with going to his international boarding school, but as the teenage years rolled around, he became angrier and angrier, until summers were less "reuniting" and more "Heracles and Sadiq avoid one another like the plague and go party in their own separate worlds".

But hey, he guessed that would all change. At least he could see the boy. It was Heracles' last year before going to university, and he had informed Sadiq, in no uncertain terms, that he would be finding his own place to live with his share of his inheritance, and would have no more of Sadiq. Sadiq had nodded, and accepted his words without once betraying his sadness at being such a failure.

With his emotional baggage checked, Sadiq walked into the teacher's apartment that would be his, already perfectly clean and furnished with all of his stuff. All that was left to be packed away were his clothes. Paying movers to set up your house for you was a nice luxury.

Sitting at the table, he enjoyed the last time this place would be clean.

"Okay, students: some ground rules. No fighting with each other. No throwing food at one another. No threatening each other with kitchen utensils. No misuse of kitchen utensils. No talking while I am giving instructions. No arguing about the instructions I give you. I will not change my instructions to fit YOUR life. I will clearly note down when homework is due. Homework is expected on that day. I will not accept late work. No arguing about homework. Now, I'm Mr. Adnan. You will not call me by my first name, even if you know it," Sadiq barked the last point, eying Heracles.

"I know I may seem rough, but there are enough things in this kitchen that could seriously injure you if you are reckless. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask," He added, trying his hardest to look a little softer. It was his first job, and sometimes he wished he was a bit softer. But, he wasn't, and hopefully his abrasiveness wouldn't deter too many students.

But he knew kids this age, and he knew they hated asking for help.

He did a quick overview of cooking terms and procedures, trying hard not to stare at Heracles. Why, oh why did Heracles have to take cooking this year? He had remembered the bloody row it had caused when first, Heracles was told where Sadiq would be working. Then, of course, the matter of what subject. For all of Heracles' flaws, he really did love to cook. It was one of the few things the two men had in common, and one of the few truce zones in their old house.

After handing out a crossword about the cooking terms he had just explained, he asked the class to split up into pairs to work on it. Some dumbass teacher way too nice for her own good suggested that, and as silly as it sounded, Sadiq wasn't about to pass up a good idea. Besides, it gave him a few minutes to step outside and have himself a cigarette.

But not before noticing the tiny Asian boy who was sitting next to Heracles. Not before noticing the way he looked at his ward.

He felt sorry for the boy. Heracles was ultimately a caring young man who loved life and lived it to the fullest, but he also had a very powerful libido, and Sadiq had woken up more than once to the sound of Heracles cooking and some stranger's voice in conversation with his ward. Some stranger who had invariably spent the night.

After a while he just stopped introducing himself to each new stranger. They were rarely around for long.

_That boy,_ he thought as he took the last drag, _is getting way in over his head. _

He knew better than anyone that you can't truly change a person, especially not a Greek. That boy looked so earnest, though. So happy to be sitting next to Heracles, and so shy. Heracles might be tamed once he grows older and settles down. His mother had tales of her former exploits, and Sadiq was just glad to have been with her after she had lived out her wild days. Heracles, no doubt, would do the same. The boy who adored him so wanted Heracles when he was too young for settling down. But who truly knew? Sadiq saw a similar adoration in Heracles' eyes, a look Heracles rarely reserved for anyone. He usually just looked sleepy. It was to his credit that he didn't doze off during Sadiq's class.

After returning to the class (not entirely sure if he should be smoking during class), he asked for the papers to be handed in.

"I don't care if it's done, I care that you talked to someone. No restaurant runs with just one chef. My classroom is no different."

They came one after another to drop the papers in the drop box. The last to toss in his paper was the small Asian boy. Heracles and the boy had been chatting, and Sadiq guessed that they had been good friends a while. The boy, rather than carelessly toss like so many of the students, handed the paper directly to Sadiq with a short bow.

"It will be a pleasure to be your student this year, Mr. Adnan." His accent was noticeable but didn't detract from his speech. Sadiq was taken off-guard by the boy even speaking to him. Most students were friendly enough, but didn't take the time to thank him.

Sadiq gave him his best attempt at a sincere smile. It looked horrible and forced and Heracles, who had stopped at the doorway to wait for the boy, looked like holding in his laughter at Sadiq's face was painful.

"Same at you," He mustered up. He was still a bit in shock from the boy's politeness, so those words were about the only he could think up.

And, god, they were awkward.

To the boy's credit, he didn't even twitch. He gave a small smile, a short bow, then rejoined Heracles.

Sadiq looked at the paper. _Kiku Honda. Japanese. Common Japanese last name but it still sounds familiar somehow..._

With that, it was time for another smoke break.

"Sadiq." A gruff voice, next to him, spoke. He had been grading some papers at Berwald's. He had assigned a short, one-page paper about the student's favorite cuisines and why, as well as having them fill out a form about their cooking experience so he would have a good baseline for what to teach.

"Ah, Berwald." He would have to get used to these accents. Eh, what could one expect from an international boarding school?

The two had hit it off, in their own strange sense of the word. The teachers could either choose to live in a small apartment complex reserved for the teachers, near campus, or they could choose to live in the adjacent town. Berwald Oxenstierna was one of the teachers who chose to live in the apartments. He was Sadiq's neighbor, and with both men being somewhat gruff and scary-looking, they had managed to strike up an odd friendship from the moment Sadiq moved in. While neither men were particularly friendly, Sadiq found it nice to have someone to listen without making comments on his smoking, or drinking too much (since Berwald often drank him under the table without so much as a sway out of him) or his temper. Half the time, they just sat in Berwald's tidy apartment and graded papers, making the occasional comment, and then drinking their problems away after the grading was done. Berwald wasn't one for words (Sadiq being shocked if he spoke more than five full sentences in an hour) but he also would let Sadiq rant, and rant, and rant. Truth to be told, Sadiq could tell Berwald and him were a little similar. They both just kind of enjoyed having company.

He had been teaching for a few weeks and had started to get his sea legs. He was clicking into a routine. Go to school, play nice with the students (as well as he could), grade papers with Berwald when he had papers to grade, and then drink away his troubles.

Yes, he had a problem. No, it was none of your damn business.

"You're Heracles Karpusi's legal guardian." It was not a question.

Sadiq could only nod.

"How is he?" Sadiq was taken aback a little. Heracles had a reputation for sleeping in class, especially math. He also didn't like pulling his weight in a class he wasn't interested in, leading to some of the more brazen teachers to come up to Sadiq in the break room to talk about Heracles' behavior. Berwald was the math teacher, and knowing the man, Sadiq didn't expect anything about his ward .Berwald was, in a word, Swedish. If there was one thing the Swedes were marvelously good at, it was polite disagreement.

"Um...he's...a teenager." This was not the time or place to regale Berwald about his failures as a godfather. He wasn't nearly drunk enough. He hoped the vague answer was enough, but Sadiq could tell by Berwald's piercing stare that the man understood everything that wasn't being said.

"He's been paying attention in class." This many words coming out of Berwald was unprecedented, and was answered by a simple nod from Sadiq.

"It's about time that bastard did something right..." He mumbled. Berwald's shock was well-concealed. "I mean, I was dating his rich cougar of a mom for what, a year? I mean yeah, he was a sweet kid when he was young..." It was unspoken, but Sadiq was done grading. "But, I was barely turning twenty when she died, and the kid was close to eleven. I mean, yeah, I get that I was probably the closest thing he had to a father figure..." Somewhere in that tangent, Berwald had gotten up to get some of his Swedish booze—Sadiq thought it was called "akvavit" or something like that, either way it was damn good—and come back with a whole bottle.

Sadiq praised Allah that it was a Friday and he could be properly hung over tomorrow.

He also praised Allah that he had found a decent guy like Berwald to be his sounding board when he had moments like these. Berwald didn't judge, he didn't scoff. He barely said two words together at the best of times. He just listened while Sadiq let out his pent up feelings of anger and sadness. With each new one-sided drunk heart-to-heart, Sadiq felt like he was getting closer to putting a few cracks in Berwald's walls, too.

"But," Sadiq resumed his rant, drinking far too much of the akvavit in one gulp, "I had no fucking idea what to do. The most she could do was will the kid to me and will the kid all of her money. Seriously, the kid's loaded." He took another huge gulp and put down the bottle. He was already feeling the affects of the spirits. He didn't notice Berwald take a rag and wipe up the top before pouring himself a glass. "And part of that meant I could use the money if it went to Heracles' benefit. And I did what any 20-year-old in charge of an 11-year-old with a shitton of money would do."

He could feel the affects of the liquor.

He didn't bother to mask his regret.

"I sent him away. I was basically given a human life to raise and nurture and I decided I'd rather have my youth."

Suddenly he was blinking rapidly. And taking the bottle from Berwald. The mild look of irritation on the man's face was about all he would say about it. And then he drank, and drank, and drank.

"But you know what they say, hindsight is 20/20, and it's my fault he is the way he is, but he's a _good kid, Berwald. _A _good fuckin' kid." _And now he was slurring a little. "An' I wish I coulda done right by him. But nooooope, I was self'sh."

Berwald took the bottle with an air of finality. Sadiq didn't quite relinquish it before having another huge gulp, but when he gave it back to Berwald, he had no intention of trying to get it back.

"He pisses me off, too. He'sso great in so many ways, but then he's a giant douche to everyone 'round him." He both hated and loved Heracles.

"An' now 'es stringin' along some sweet Asian kid, he's just gonna hurt him." _I wish he wasn't reliving my youth, it only causes pain. _Berwald understood the meaning. But that's how Berwald was. You didn't need to go on these deep, loquacious explanations. He just knew.

"Asian? You mean Kiku Honda?" Berwald's question made Sadiq jump. It also made Sadiq wonder when they ran out of that almost full bottle of akvavit.

"Yeeeah, I see th' way they look at each other." His accent was coming on strong, but that always happened when he was drunk.

"They've been together since last year. This isn't anything new."

Sadiq let that sink in for a moment. "He had a new person to fuck almost every night this summer."

Berwald looked a bit surprised, but after a moment said, "He still has that reputation."

Another moment. "I was that kid at his age. Can't deny, I'm a good lookin' fella. An' I'm not old, but I got it out of my system. His mom was the same. He'll settle one day." Or at least, he tried to tell himself.

Berwald nodded quietly and said nothing.

Sadiq wouldn't have wanted it otherwise.


	2. Heracles Philanders

Heracles was not somebody who angered easily, but when he was boarding the plane to go to school again, he was NOT anticipating his guardian coming with him.

He had no clue what it was about Sadiq. Hell, he didn't know what his mom was thinking, leaving him with this guy. It wasn't long before they started hating each other. Sadiq was angry, loud, an alcoholic, and on more than one occasion had slapped Heracles for...what? Insubordination?

He was lucky that it never got worse than a slap here or a punch there in the heat of passion, and it wasn't long after falling into Sadiq's guardianship that he could defend himself. As easygoing as Heracles was, he was just as vicious when angered.

Sometimes he would be yelled at for the crime of existing.

Living with Sadiq was no easy feat.

But, he had to count himself lucky. After a while the old man just resigned himself to letting Heracles do what he wanted. After Heracles proved he could defend himself, the guy stopped trying to pull anything. So long as Heracles kept his nose clean and cleaned up after him, Sadiq didn't care. He didn't care to the point that, when Heracles was fourteen and stupider, Sadiq responded to a police phone call with the simple words, "He's not my son." Heracles had to spend the night in a jail cell for that.

Those memories would live with Heracles, and he didn't know if he could really think of Sadiq without being reminded of that pain.

As he lounged on the bed, enjoying the afterglow, he watched his most recent conquest languishing in the joy that he gave her.

Sex gave Heracles such mindless pleasure, and Elizaveta was his most sought-after sex partner, besides Kiku. He always felt kind of bad, being dishonest to Kiku. He shared everything with the boy. The boy's calm understanding was a pleasure by itself.

In an odd way, being so discreet about his affair with Elizaveta was his own way of showing how much he cared about Kiku. She almost always seemed to be having problems in her own relationships, never able to choose between Gilbert or Roderich, and he always managed to catch her in the interim.

She vented her frustrations at him through sex, and he got to enjoy mindless fucking, no strings attached, getting to be as passionate and depraved as he wanted. As much as he loved Kiku, that boy was not cut out to dominate or be dominated. He was cut out to have someone quietly and passionately make love to him, which frustrated Heracles to no end. He saw that boy's porn stash, he _knew_ Kiku was into wilder stuff.

He just had no idea how to be honest with Kiku. He loved the boy, and had listened as Kiku cried about his family, had quietly encouraged him to be more exploratory, had made him feel comfortable with being impulsive. But their relationship was still a secret to everyone outside of the school. How could he be totally honest when he knew Kiku wouldn't even tell his own brothers about their relationship? His brothers went to this school!

All he did was clean up and leave, after he had his fill of cuddling Elizaveta afterward.

Entering his new dorm, all neatly packed away, he put on his best smile. Kiku was quietly at his desk, hard at work on his essay. The boy had a habit of tuning the rest of the world out while he focused, and Heracles used that as an excuse to wrap his arms around Kiku from behind.

Usually, Kiku would stiffen instinctively, but at Heracles' familiar scent, he relaxed into the embrace.

"Hera..." He turned, with a fond smile. It was a smile of total relaxation he reserved for no-one else. It was a smile of love, of trust, of friendship. It was a smile that told stories of intimate secrets shared in the dead of night. It was a smile that told of growing together, building up a life together, of happiness shared together.

It was a smile that broke Heracles' heart.

But he had long since given into his abandonment issues and mustered up a smile with hopefully half as much sincerity as Kiku's. He kissed the boy, with passion.

Without a word, he tore Kiku away from his laptop, with minimal protesting from him, and carried him to the bed. They were given two twin-sized beds, and had the sense to push them together after the head of housing checked them in.

This time sex was not fucking, not grotesque or a way to vent emotions. It was love-making at its finest. It was giving themselves over to absolute pleasure. This was the truest form of intimacy, one that Elizaveta could never give him.

It was that intimacy that broke Heracles' heart, for he broke it every time he gave into temptation. He broke the trust that Kiku gave him.

As he fell asleep, holding the tiny boy, he sincerely prayed that Kiku would never find out.

Getting that note from his guardian ruined his day.

"Mr. Adnan would like to see you after class" the note read. He sighed. They were far beyond helping. His only concrete father figure now treated him in the most official, clinical way possible.

After a month of no incidents between the two (which was an achievement in itself), he now found this.

Standing, waiting, and despising the man in front of him, Heracles was patient as the rest of the students filed out.

"What do you want? I've been a model student just so I have to deal with you as little as possible." Heracles spat these words, and the force of them looked painful to Sadiq.

"So, been with Kiku a while?" Sadiq's eyes were accusing.

"Since when did you care about who I fucked?" Heracles' eyes were more sad than angry.

"Since I actually got to know some of them," Sadiq responded. "Furthermore, you've been doing a great job in my class-" Heracles mentally gave the man props for sounding professional at least. "-But you haven't been keeping up your studies in other classes. Seeing as you do so well in some courses, I would wonder why you didn't try to excel in others."

"When did you start caring about academics? You almost flunked out of high school _and _college." Heracles started leaving before he heard Sadiq ask him to wait. He turned to glare at the man who dared act fatherly now.

"I just don't want you to repeat my mistakes. Stop cheating on Kiku and start applying yourself or there will be hell to pay." Sadiq's eyes were more terrifying than the low growl he chose to use to speak those words. Heracles was accustomed to yelling, screaming, all sorts of fits of anger. More than one new set of dishes had to be purchased because of Sadiq's temper. Heracles felt the heat of anger rise in his chest, and did little but storm out of the room.

It wouldn't be until Heracles returned to his room that he would remember what Sadiq had last said. _'I just don't want you to repeat my mistakes.'_ That phrase turned in his mind. What did the man mean? He had never shown any interest in Heracles' life whatsoever, unless it was with food. Sure, everything Sadiq cooked had a certain "Turkish flavor" to it, but that man was definitely a gourmet and liked good food. It was the only peaceful moments with the man, when Heracles would cook. He would give gentle pointers to his ward, or guide him where he messed up.

In those moments, Sadiq looked gentle and caring.

_'I just don't want you to repeat my mistakes.'_

So what if he cared. It was Heracles' life, and if he was going to learn, it would have to be the hard way.

He turned over and promptly took a nap.

It wasn't until Kiku had returned after a study session with Arthur and Alfred that he roused himself. Kiku smiled softly and planted a kiss on Heracles' forehead. He had started becoming more open with shows of physical affection since Heracles had brought Kiku under his wing.

"So how was studying?" He asked, in his telltale slow manner. Kiku was the only person who didn't find his slower way of speaking annoying. Everyone else either disregarded it and used him, or yelled at him for it, or silently seethed. Kiku had never once looked angry or upset, only patient.

A deep sigh was all Kiku needed. He spoke so much with so little words. It was a quality Heracles had learned to appreciate.

"Still don't know why you hang around Arthur."

"Ah, well, we have some subjects together you see..." But Kiku's face betrayed his discomfort. The two had a history. Arthur was Kiku's first boyfriend and first lover, and had tossed the boy aside to chase after the ever-dense Alfred. It wasn't even a typical break-up. He had just stopped speaking to Kiku. Considering the two were roommates last year, it was an awkward situation all year that lead to Kiku spending a lot of nights in Heracles' and Feliciano's room, well before Heracles had even noticed Kiku.

It always secretly made Heracles want to throttle the poor bastard, even though Kiku had asked him not to, and frankly, he was too lazy to put forth the effort of throttling him anyway. But, if Kiku wanted to deal with his hurt feelings that way, he could.

And it gave Heracles secret satisfaction that he was now sleeping with Kiku, and Arthur had nobody.

"So did he make progress with Alfred?" Heracles asked. Kiku sighed.

"No, Alfred just kept talking about Arthur's hot cousin." Ah, Deirdre. The fiery Irish lass. Yes, they were cousins, but Deirdre grew up in a small town in Ireland and Arthur grew up in England. The differences showed.

Those two had an odd love/hate relationship that even made his relationship with Sadiq look tame.

But it couldn't be denied, she was _gorgeous._ And amazing in bed.

Heracles also didn't express either of those thoughts out loud.

"Well, his loss." Heracles was grateful that Arthur had been such a jerk to Kiku. If Arthur hadn't been such a jerk, Heracles wouldn't have gotten to know Kiku, and wouldn't have fallen in love with Kiku, and he wouldn't have been able to be such a good boyfriend to Kiku.

Well, most of the time.

As Heracles lounged in bed, and Kiku typed away, he dozed off, and when he came to, the small Asian boy had crawled into bed next to him and wrapped his arms around Heracles, his head resting on the Greek boy's chest.

As he dozed off, yet again, he realized this may be the happiest moment of his life and he might ruin everything.

Author's Note:

Well, I already got two awesome reviews so far, which has inspired me to actually write more. I'm not promising any consistent timing for updates – I am a college student and I did just start a brand new school year, but on the bright side my program is all writing-centric so it has oiled the wheels in my brain when it comes to writing shit.

I sort of abruptly ended this – my goal for every chapter is for it to be about 5 pages long, but I honestly didn't have any idea on how to put 5 more pages into this chapter. Heracles...Heracles isn't easy to write.

So there you have it. I hope to have the next chapter written soon! The perspective is going to change chapter-to-chapter between Sadiq, Heracles, and Kiku – for now.

And that's all I'm going to say, now back to writing more essays for my hippie dippie liberal arts college.


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